On Friday, March 15, in conjunction with the diocesan convention, the Diocese will offer a series of workshops focused on “Loving Our Neighbors.” Each workshop will be offered twice, from 1 – 2:15 p.m. and again from 2:45 – 4 p.m. in the Ministry Center at Saint James Church on James Island. Seating for the workshops, which are open to all, is limited. Register here.
Meet Your Neighbors: Understanding Your Culture & Contextualizing for Mission & Church Planting with The Rev Canon Dr. Dan Alger
Who is your neighbor? Where is your neighbor? What is your neighbor up to? How can you and your church reach your neighbor for Christ? In this workshop we’ll discuss the skills needed to learn and take meaning from your local culture and how to contextualize your church’s work of mission and church planting to reach the people where they are. We will dive deep into the physical, relational, spiritual, and ideological aspects of your culture. Then we’ll discuss a framework for developing a strategy to reach them that allows for both integrity to the Anglican tradition and effectiveness in mission.
The Rev Canon Dr. Dan Alger is the Canon for Church Planting for the Anglican Church in North America. He has been active in the work of Anglican church planting as a planter, coach, overseer, and friend for over 18 years. He is the co-host of the Always Forward Podcast and author of numerous articles. His doctoral work was on organizing Anglican dioceses for the work of church planting. He is married to Karen and they have two boys: Eli and Silas.
Representational Confession: A Tool for Healing Wounded Communities with The Rev. Dr. Russ Parker
Threaded throughout scripture are examples of people of faith taking ownership, without accusation, of the wounds of their communities and confessing them before God. The result has often been astounding moments when God has restored such broken communities so that they flourish under God’s grace once again. These people had discovered a tool for breaking through the gridlock that bound their communities. This tool is called Representational Confession and we will be exploring its dynamics and how to put them into practice for our churches and families and communities.
The Rev. Dr. Russ Parker, an ordained priest in the Church of England, is the Director of 2Restore: Healing Church Wounds which offers a range of resources in order to help churches resolve and heal their legacies of unhealed stories and their issues and move forward in a renewed ability to flourish as God intends. Russ is a founding member of the Fellowship of Christ the Healer (UK and USA) which exists to resource leaders of residential healing and healthcare initiatives.Russ is married to Roz and lives near Farnham, Surrey.
Neighboring: Love Where You Live with Dave Runyon
In this workshop we will dig deeper into the Art of Neighboring and discuss best practices and obstacles to connecting with our literal neighbors. We will cover questions such as: How do you find time to do this? What if my neighbors are sketchy? Do my motives matter? What about us introverts? How do I talk about Jesus without seeming weird? And much more!
(Learn more about Dave above.)
Mission INSITE Part 2; Won’t You be My Neighbor? with the Revs. Gary Beson and Tyler Prescott
As church communities, we are typically eager to love our neighbors but often unsure how to begin! Join us for a conversation to consider how “old” churches can engage “new” neighbors. Facilitated by the Revs. Gary Beson and Tyler Prescott, the leadership from St. John’s, Florence and St. John, John’s Island will share how they are using MissionInsite and personal relationships to be good neighbors in their communities. Opportunities for reaching new and growing demographics will be discussed. Ample time for some practical Q and A will be provided.
The Rev. Gary Beson is the Vicar of St. Timothy’s, Cane Bay and is the go-to resource for church planting resources in our Diocese. Gary is married to Sue, and they have three grown children, and a new grandchild on the way.
The Rev. Tyler Prescott has served as Associate Rector at St. Paul’s, Summerville for eight years. Prior to receiving his MDiv from Trinity School for Ministry, he worked in Charleston as a structural engineer for six years. Tyler and his wife, Lanier, have seven children ages fourteen to eighteen months. In his free time, Tyler likes to….who are we kidding, Tyler doesn’t have any free time!
